Bulls on lucerne at Bonavaree and preparing for the dry

While at Bonavaree last week, Prof Moot took the opportunity to question Fraser about his current grazing management of lucerne. Fraser highlighted that they missed most of the rain the rest of the country has experienced in the last month so the land is drying out quickly. He is hopeful that he can get through … Read more

Legume management after February rain

Posted on behalf of Prof. Derrick Moot. Many east coast areas of New Zealand have had 20-100 mm of rainfall in the last week or so with more forecast. This unusual mid-summer situation has messed up my holiday – but more importantly can lead to some management issues that need to be considered for lucerne … Read more

Southern farm visits Jan 2021

Professor Moot recently took the opportunity to show his overseas visitors some of the farming practices in New Zealand. The visit to a Northern Southland hill country farm discussed the importance of lime for clover production on hill country. The cost of flying on lime can appear prohibitive as the clover response may take 2-3 … Read more

Lucerne – bending the rules at lambing

Rule 1:  Never set stock on lucerne Rule 2: If you want to set stock on lucerne – read Rule 1. Rule 3: If you have a large area of lucerne (more than 15% of your farm) and are running out of lambing area you may need to set stock for a short period (up … Read more

Lucerne transformation

This presentation was made by Prof Derrick Moot on 31 Aug 2018 at the European Society of Agronomy Conference held in Geneva, Switzerland. The presentation discusses the process of moving from a data driven research program to development new grazing management rules for grazing alfalfa through to on-farm adoption of a new system to increase … Read more

Dairying in Canterbury

This video is a presentation by Prof Derrick Moot at the European Society of Agronomy Conference held in Geneva, Switzerland from 27-31 Aug 2018. This presentation was given on 30 Aug 2018. The presentation discusses the changes seen in the dairy industry in the Canterbury region and outlines some problems and potential solutions to some of … Read more

Lambing under way at Bonavaree

Prof Moot was at Bonavaree farm in Marlborough over the weekend where lambing is in full swing. The mild weather is making ideal conditions for lambing and Fraser is confident he has sufficient cover across all paddocks to get him through his major pinch period of mid August. He is is smiling here as he … Read more

Ray Brougham Trophy Public Lecture – Legumes Regenerate Pastures

Professor Derrick Moot was awarded the Ray Brougham Trophy by the New Zealand Grassland Trust in Nov 2016. As part of this, award Derrick was required to make a series of public lectures. This video is a recording of the lecture which took place at Lincoln University, Canterbury on 6 Sep 2017. The duration of this … Read more

Causes of elevated coumestrol content in lucerne

Rachel Fields presented her PhD exit seminar on Friday 14th July at Lincoln University’s Field Research Centre (FRC). This video is a shortened version of that seminar presenting her main research findings. The topic of Rachel’s PhD was ‘Causes of elevated coumestrol in lucerne and mitigation of the subsequent risk to ewe reproductive performance’Coumestrol is … Read more

Disappointing lucerne not so disappointing – when you do the right calculations!

Every now and then we hear about animals performing poorly on lucerne compared to grass pastures – yes it can happen and for several reasons (ill thift, lack of time to acclimatise to a new feed source, lack of access to fibre and salt …) – but, when it comes down to facts, mean daily … Read more